‘Timecop’ Reboot at Universal Gets Two Writers

Loads of popular Universal titles are getting the reboot or remake treatment these days, including Jurassic Park in 2015, The Mummy the year after, and the recently announced Battlestar Galactica film, so it makes perfect sense that the studio would pursue a new version of one of their biggest science fiction films, Timecop.

Inspired by a story in the anthology Dark Horse Comics, the original 1994 film starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as a police officer in the future of 2004, fighting time travel crime and, as a result, discovering an interconnected web of political corruption. Timecop opened #1 at the box office, then managed to spin off into a video game for SNES, a short-lived TV show on ABC, a series of novels, and a direct-to-video sequel in 2003 before disappearing from public consciousness.

Universal brought the title back into awareness about a year ago when they tried to get the ball rolling on a reboot following the success of the film Looper. Now they’re at it again by finally hiring two writers.

THR reports Mark and Brian Gunn (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) will pen the script for Timecop, with Marc Shmuger and Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Comics – who also wrote the original film – onboard to produce.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in ‘Looper’

Indeed, director Rian Johnson’s Looper does seem to be what Universal is hoping to emulate since the new writers are said to be focusing on relegating the original film’s science fiction elements to the background in favor of a grittier personal story. Basically, think less Van Damme action and more character study. And in the opinion of this writer, if this reboot is anything like Looper, it may end up being a fun, mind-bending thrill ride indeed.

The Gunn cousins first got their start writing the MTV TV-movie 2gether (and its subsequent series) as well as cheerleading sequel Bring It on Again, but they’ve quickly risen to higher caliber projects in the last two years. (Fun fact: Brian Gunn is Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn’s brother.)

On their plate is Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon, a MacGyver film (which they supposedly rewrote in 2012), and a remake of The Monster Squad for Paramount (which they’ve been attached to since 2010). They appear to have quite a knack for adapting and rebooting other people’s work, so snagging them for Timecop could be a good choice, assuming it actually makes it to the big screen.

Now that a Timecop movie is being written, are you excited to see a new take with a tone similar to Looper? Do you think Mark and Brian Gunn are the right men for the job?

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Stay tuned to Screen Rant for more information on the Timecop reboot as it becomes available.

This could be good. The original movie was pretty dumb but that’s all the more reason for rebooting since the concept was alright. I just hope they take out the bit about not being able to touch your other self (“same matter can’t occupy the same space”) that was so silly and unfounded!